Scale of Benefits. Rights-of-way and accompanying lands and parcels for roads, highways, railroads, and energy transmission and distribution play a critical role in the current landscape. While much of these lands may contain infrastructure, facilities, or routinely mowed areas as required for safety and security, portions of the lands associated with energy and transportation can support nesting and egg-laying habitat for pollinators, including monarchs, and have the potential to act as corridors for pollinator movement. These lands, which can contain areas of natural land cover with flowering plants offer sustained nectar and pollen sources for pollinators (Xerces Society 2015, Xxxxxxx 2008, and Xxxx 2001). This Agreement recognizes that these lands already play an important role in monarch conservation, and can also be enhanced for additional benefits to the species. The full extent of potential monarch habitat benefits is unknown at this time. The variability in the landscape across the national footprint, the varying degree of habitat value, and uncertainty of the number of participants and acres to be enrolled at this time, all add uncertainty as it relates to full habitat benefits. Based on current partners committed to developing the Agreement, we anticipate up to 26 million acres of transportation and energy lands could be enrolled. On these lands, we anticipate the spatial distribution and habitat patch availability of monarch habitat will increase across the landscape of those enrolled acres. Nationally, hundreds of millions of acres are potentially available to provide additional benefits to monarchs through this Agreement. Under this Agreement, the Parties involved will continue to promote enrollment prior to any possible effective listing date of monarchs. Our goal anticipates enrollment of approximately double the amount of acres currently anticipated during development. Under the Agreement, Partners will adopt a series of conservation measures (Section 6) that address key threats to the monarch butterfly. For many rights-of-way, this involves adoption of integrated vegetation management, or other targeted vegetation management strategies. These actions will enhance and increase the presence of milkweed and blooming nectar plants through mowing or targeted use of herbicides. In addition, enhancement of vegetation through seeding and planting following land disturbance will introduce plant diversity not currently available in many locations. In doing so, we ant...
Scale of Benefits. The scale of benefits of some international energy projects has already been noted and, depending on interpretation, has been quite large --- as for the EDF French nuclear programme. However early examples of community benefits for energy projects in the UK were quite small scale, and somewhat ad hoc. For example the Sizewell B amelioration programme totalled less than £600,000. In contrast, the recent Xxxxxxx Point C proposed a substantial £128 million CBA package which is additional to the £100 million already pledged for infrastructure mitigation and enhancement measures (West Somerset Council 2016). The increasing scale, and an attempt to formalise and build in some logic to the scale of benefits, is quite neatly summarised by the recent history of CBAs in relation to Scottish on-shore wind farm activity. Over the last 15 years the scale of benefits has increased from £1000 per MW³ size of the project over the working lifetime of the project (normally 25 years) for early projects, to at least £5000 per MW for more recent projects (Natural Scotland, 2014). Thus, for a wind farm of 20MW the current annual benefit would be at least £100,000. In 2013 the renewable energy industry also agreed a protocol to provide community benefits in connection with eligible on-shore wind schemes in England of no less than £5000 per MW per year or benefits in kind to an equivalent value. The annual contribution will be index-linked and will commence within 12 months of the project making first commercial export of power and apply for the operational lifetime of the scheme (RenewableUK 2013). For large solar energy projects, which are becoming more numerous in the UK, the scale of benefits has been somewhat less than for on-shore wind farms. For example, for the county of Dorset in southern England, community benefit negotiations are based on a minimum benchmark of £1000 per MW of installed capacity per year for a period of 20 years, index linked to the Retail Price Index (or a pro-rata single upfront community benefit payment). However, there is little current consistency with rates of up to £3000 per MW for similar projects in Cornwall (Dorset CC 2015). Solar farm host locations are keen to learn from the Scottish on-shore wind farm experience, but are partly hindered by the lack of national guidance on solar farm community benefits. Of course when the MW scale of a modern nuclear power station, or off-shore wind farm, is factored in the sums can become much larger. At t...
